The small MPV segment’s growth of 10% in the first quarter has slowed down slightly in the second quarter, as first half 2014 sales are still up an impressive 8%. And the difference between success and failure has grown, as only two models show significant gains, while all other models either remain virtually flat or lose sales.

The Ford B-Max held on to its lead in the first half of 2013, until the Fiat 500L took over and never looked back. In the second quarter of 2014, the 500L even outsold the B-Max by a 2-to-1 ratio. Then the new generation Nissan Note outsold the little Ford for the first time last December and has done so every month since, to jump into the segment’s second place, from sixth last year. The B-Max is now under threat to lose out of the podium by the Opel/Vauxhall Meriva, with less than 50 units between them after the Meriva outsold the Romanian-built Ford in each of the last 3 months.

The Meriva has passed the Citroën C3 Picasso in the second quarter as well, but the rest of the segment remains relatively stable ranking-wise. All other models are down at least 12% with the only exception of the Skoda Roomster, down just 1% and therefore closing in on the Kia Venga. [Read more…]

European sales in the midsized segment have declined further in the second quarter of 2014 to show a loss of 5% over the first half. The Volkswagen Passat shows a smaller decline than the overall segment, even though its new generation has already been introduced to the press and will hit showrooms in the last quarter of this year.

Of only five models increasing their sales on last year, the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia is the fastest growing with sales up over one third thanks to a facelift and modernized engines. The second fastest gainer is the Skoda Superb, which also has been updated recently, and which could repeat the remarkable performance of its smaller sibling Skoda in the compact segment by ending the year on the podium of the midsize segment. It’s already leapfrogged the Peugeot 508 into fourth position and has its sights set on the Ford Mondeo.

Belgian production of the current generation Mondeo has already ended in July. After the summer break, Ford will start production of the new generation Mondeo in Spain, but that model won’t hit showrooms until December, leaving it vulnerable to be passed by the Skoda Superb. [Read more…]

The compact segment is up 10% in the first half of 2014, despite rumors that consumers would leave the segment in droves to buy crossovers and SUV’s.

Among the biggest gainers of the segment are the VW-Group siblings Volkswagen Golf, Skoda Octavia (up two spots to an amazing third position) and Seat Leon, together accounting for over 94.000 of the segment’s 104.000 units growth. On top of that, the slightly smaller Skoda Rapid has gained another two spots thanks to the introduction of the Spaceback hatchback version to make it 4 VW-Group cars in the top-10.

The Golf is still the biggest gainer of the segment in absolute numbers, and it’s on track to sell over half a million units in Europe for the first time in 10 years. Other notable gainers are the European Car of the Year Peugeot 308, with the recently introduced station wagon version boosting sales even further, although I don’t expect it to threaten the Opel/Vauxhall Astra for fourth place. [Read more…]

Part of the slowdown may be due to small crossovers becoming increasingly popular thanks to an influx of new models in that segment.

The Ford Fiesta holds on to its traditional lead of the segment, although the Renault Clio has outsold the Fiesta in three of the six months, including the last two. A (traditional) excellent month of March in the UK has helped the little Ford stay in first position over the first six months this year.

Amazingly, the already ancient Opel/Vauxhall Corsa has taken back its position from the still relatively fresh Peugeot 208, which is already the biggest loser in the top-10, despite being one of the most recent designs. Considering the 2008 and Mokka are not far apart in the small crossover segment, and considering the Clio is unhurt by the success of the Captur, it’s hard to blame the 2008 for the early demise of the 208. [Read more…]

Sales in the European minicar segment are down 2% in the first half of 2014, as a number of important models have just been renewed or will be in the second half of the year. The new generation of the Kolin triplets Citroën C1, Peugeot 107/108 and Toyota Aygo have started sales in June and won’t reach their full potential until the third quarter. Thanks to an excellent first quarter with sales increasing 20%, the Aygo is actually still up for the first half, but the C1 and 107 are down about 25%.

Also in showrooms later this year are the new generations of the Renault Twingo and Smart Fortwo, both on the same rear-engined, rear-wheel drive platform, and both outgoing generations down about 12% on last year. [Read more…]

In the compact passenger van segment, the Volkswagen Caddy Life strengthens its lead over the Citroën Berlingo Multispace while that model’s twin, the Peugeot Partner lost its third place to the Renault Kangoo in the second quarter. If the Kangoo manages to finish the year in that third position it will be the first time since 2011 for the model to do so.

Surprisingly, the Kangoo’s Renault-Group sibling Dacia Dokker is already down in the second quarter when compared to last year, even though it’s only the model’s second full year of sales. The Kangoo’s twin Mercedes-Benz Citan has taken over the award for fastest growing model from the Dokker, although the Citan remains stable in ninth position. [Read more…]

Unsurprisingly, the Volkswagen Golf is still the leader of the pack, all by itself outselling full brand line-ups like Hyundai or Nissan and Infiniti combined. It even has gained the most units of all models except for the Peugeot 2008, which was still in start-up mode last year.

The 2008 has outsold its archenemy Renault Captur for the very first time ever, leading the small crossover segment, with the Opel/Vauxhall and Dacia Duster not far behind in third and fourth places, taking their distance from the former segment leader Nissan Juke, which is being updated soon.

The success of the 2008 seems to have a downside for Peugeot, as the still relatively fresh 208 subcompact hatchback is losing sales quickly. In fact, whereas the 2008 adds the most units of all models (8.990 sales), the 208 is the biggest volume loser of all models (5.010 sales). [Read more…]

As announced almost a year ago, 2015 will mark the end of production of one of the longest running vehicle designs currently on sale. The Land Rover Defender was introduced as the Land Rover Series I in 1948, was renamed Ninety and One Ten in 1983 and renamed again as Defender in the 1990’s, but the basic structure and design haven’t changed much over the past decades.

Jaguar-Land Rover claims that it’s impossible to make the iconic Defender meet the stricter European Union emission standards that go into effect by 2020. The Defender had already been pulled out of the North American market in 1998 when it couldn’t meet the stricter safety regulations of the US and Canada. However, if we look at the sales figures, we can conclude that Europe is one of the Defender’s smallest markets, and not being allowed to sell the model in the European market wouldn’t result in a loss of sales large enough to blame the demise of the model on the regulations. [Read more…]

Unlike many other brands, which are adding models to fill up every possible niche, Peugeot has changed its strategy to focus on fewer models, and focusing on segments in which the brand can compete successfully across the globe, increasing economies of scale. Carlos Tavares, the new CEO of PSA Peugeot-Citroën who is responsible for bringing the company back into profitable territory, has outlined a number of strategies to turn the company around, and one of them is to increase transaction prices.

This strategy is designed to evolve Peugeot from a regular mainstream brand into an upper-class mainstream brand, to avoid the buzz-word “premium”, as every mainstream manufacturer appears to be aiming for a premium image. Tavares wants to be able to raise transaction prices of Peugeot cars in Europe to match those of its competitor Volkswagen, whereas they are trailing the German brand by almost 7%. His aim is to decrease this deficit to 4,7% in 2016 and to less than 3% in 2020. These increased prices should contribute directly to the company’s bottom line, as production costs remain at a similar level. According to Tavares, the technology and quality of the 208 subcompact, 2008 small crossover and 308 compact are already on par with Volkswagen’s and therefore help improve the Peugeot brand image. [Read more…]

More than 35 years after the release of their first single “Fall Out”, band members of The Police have announced they will start an investigation into how a completely unqualified man was able to get on the track.

The then 24-year old male, later identified as Corsican Henry Padovani, managed to get himself on the track playing a guitar without authorization from the actual band members Sting and Stewart Copeland. As the track was being recorded, Padovani came out of nowhere, having snuck past the security gates with his guitar, jumped into the studio behind the other musicians and started playing guitar solos.

When interviewed by the press, Sting explained: “Stewart was the drummer of the band and was supposed to play the guitar for this song as well. But when the vocals and drums had been recorded and we listened it back, we heard the guitar solos were already on the track as well. We never even noticed the extra guy in the studio. It wasn’t until we saw the cover that we noticed this weirdo acting like a total asshat in the picture as well.”

Copeland, who also wrote and produced the song, continues: “He really messed up this song, it didn’t even make the charts because of his guitar play, only when we hired Andy Summers to play the guitar, we managed to break through an become one of the most popular bands in the 1980s.”

The band says they have only now started to investigate into the matter because Sting had been too busy making appearances in films and TV-series “As himself”.